


maybe we could change the odds

by skidzcore



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2020-07-09 23:12:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19895932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skidzcore/pseuds/skidzcore
Summary: hyunjin hates jeongin, however jeongin hopes that will change ｜ hyunin fic





	1. tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> i’ve been meaning to write a hyunin fic for a while and i finally got around to writing one, so i hope it’s not too bad
> 
> also just a heads up!!  
> woojin, chan, minho, and changbin are in university  
> and the rest of the members are in high school (00 liners are seniors and jeongin is a junior)
> 
> title is from the song odds by NIKI

if someone asked hyunjin and jeongin’s friend group how long the two had hated each other, the group of boys would say that they have been at each other’s necks since they could remember.

there was never a moment where hyunjin and jeongin would not be fighting.

it would always be hyunjin nagging at jeongin or jeongin poking at hyunjin. whatever the case, the two would be arguing nonstop.

hyunjin’s phone rang as the group of friends in front of him chatted. 

the sound of the boys’ banter became white noise to hyunjin since he was used to the group always chatting up a storm.

reading the caller ID, hyunjin answered the phone immediately.

he raised the phone up to his ear and spoke into the line. “hey yeonju, what’s up?”

the group of boys all looked toward hyunjin’s direction. now, their focus was on hyunjin and whoever he was talking to.

“ _you said you were coming to school early again to spend time with me today. where are you?_ ” yeonju asked.

hyunjin exchanged looks with the group of friends in front of him before speaking into the phone once again.

“oh,” hyunjin muttered out, “i’ll be there soon. i have some assignments i have to turn in before class starts.”

hyunjin could hear yeonju’s heavy sigh through the phone line.

“ _okay. just get here soon! i don’t want mrs. lee to yell at you like yesterday for being in her class when you aren’t supposed to be,_ ” yeonju explained, her voice frantic with concern.

“i know, i know! i’ll be there in a bit, don’t worry,” hyunjin replied. “i’ll see you soon, okay?”

another sigh sounded through the phone line.

“ _okay,_ ” yeonju answered back before ending the phone call.

hyunjin slid his phone back into his pocket. a heavy sigh leaving from his lips as he stood up from his seat the table.

“so, what happened with yeonju?” seungmin asked.

jisung nodded in agreement to seungmin. “yeah. sounded like she was mad at you or something,” he mentioned.

“she’s not mad,” hyunjin explained. “i promised her that i’d hang out with her the whole week before class started since it’s the only time we get to talk.”

hyunjin heard jeongin sniker beside him. he turned to the younger, watching as he rolled his eyes at hyunjin.

“what’s up with you?” hyunjin questioned the boy.

jeongin glared at hyunjin.

“nothing,” he muttered.

hyunjin scoffed at the reply.

chan looked down at his phone screen, which displayed the current time.

“hey hyunjin,” he called out. “i can give you a ride to the school if you want?”

hyunjin grabbed his phone and looked at his own screen, reading the time displayed.

it was about an hour until classes began, which meant he’d have less time to spend with yeonju and he didn’t want to make the girl mad at him for not spending time together.

hyunjin put his phone back into his pocket and looked at chan.

“that’d be nice if you could,” he told the older.

chan nodded and stood up from his chair, grabbing his car keys off of the table.

at the same moment, woojin had made his way toward their table. he glanced between hyunjin and chan before speaking.

“are you two leaving already?” he asked as he placed a few beverages onto the table.

hyunjin nodded. “yeah, i’ve got to be at school early today.”

“i’m just gonna drop him off. i’ll probably be back,” chan added.

woojin gave the two a nod before giving chan a small kiss on the cheek and then turning toward hyunjin.

“okay. well, have a good day at school, hyunjin,” woojin mentioned.

hyunjin smiled. “i’ll try, hope work isn’t too busy for you today,” he replied, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

woojin let out a small string of laughs before smiling back. “hopefully,” he answered back.

chan gestured toward the café doors. to which hyunjin nodded silently, understanding chan’s body language.

the two said a few more farewells and ‘see you later’s to the group of boys before heading to the front doors of the café.

the sound of bells ringing from the top of the café doors were the last thing they heard before making their way to chan’s car.

“there you are, hyunjin.”

hyunjin’s gaze moved up to look at the familiar voice that had just called to him.

it was yeonju.

“you didn’t call me after school yesterday like you said you would,” the girl nagged as hyunjin walked over to the desk beside her.

he placed his backpack onto the floor before taking a seat at the desk and laying his head down onto it. “i know, i forgot. sorry,” hyunjin muttered out.

hyunjin and yeonju weren’t dating.

maybe to yeonju, they were. but to hyunjin, they were just having a fling.

it was a possibility that their relationship could grow into something more intimate. however with hyunjin’s constant lack of effort and yeonju’s never ending nagging, it seemed obvious that their current state wouldn’t grow to be more than what it was at the moment.

yeonju let out a heavy sigh.

“you _always_ say that,” she mumbled. she crossed her arms as she leaned back in her seat, staring straight at the front of the class.

hyunjin glanced at her. feeling bad for his actions and his lack of thought, he thought of an idea.

“hey,” he called.

yeonju shifted her focus to the boy. “what?”

hyunjin sat up straight and turned toward yeonju. “how about i make it up to you?” he offered.

the girl shot him a puzzled look.

“and how would you do that?” yeonju questioned.

“we can spend time after school on friday doing whatever you want,” hyunjin suggested. “we could go shopping, go to the arcade, walk around the city, whatever you want.”

yeonju‘s eyes were filled with suspicion.

“are you sure?” she asked. “i feel like you’re going to cancel last minute or something like that.”

hyunjin shook his head in denial.

“i don’t have anything planned after school on friday and i promise you if something comes up, i’ll try to cancel so i can hang out with you,” hyunjin reassured the girl.

as a result, yeonju smiled softly.

“okay,” she replied. “i’ll text you about it then, which means you _have_ to reply to my texts.”

hyunjin nodded with a smile. “you got it.”

after finishing his last statement, the school warning bell rang which meant hyunjin had to leave yeonju’s classroom before her teacher came in and scolded him.

he grabbed his bag from the floor and slung back over his shoulder, saying a ‘goodbye’ to yeonju before heading toward the classroom door.

as he made his way to the door, yeonju’s voice called out to him.

“don’t forget to text me back, hwang hyunjin!” her voice exclaimed.

hyunjin walked out the door as he yelled back in response. “don’t worry about it!”

he rushed to his own classroom and made it to his seat just in time for roll call to begin.

as he place his backpack down beside his desk, hyunjin felt something from his right push at his chair. he sat up straight and turned to see what had nudged his seat.

jisung—who sat right beside him—grinned widely as hyunjin looked toward him. hyunjin sent an annoyed expression to jisung before the boy whispered something to him.

“so how was your time with yeonju?” jisung teased quietly.

hyunjin glared at the boy. “shut up, our names are about to be called,” he shot back.

after a few more minutes, jisung’s name was called out by their teacher.

“here!” jisung exclaimed back to the teacher.

the teacher sighed. “indoor voices, mister han.”

the classroom full of students as well as jisung laughed for a moment before the teacher continued on with the list.

followed after that statement by the teacher, hyunjin’s name was called.

“here,” hyunjin answered back before having his chair kicked again by jisung.

hyunjin groaned in annoyance, turning back to jisung. “what is it now?” he asked in a hushed tone.

“you never told me how your time with yeonju was,” jisung teased once more.

rolling his eyes at the boy’s comments, hyunjin ignored him and looked back to the front of the classroom.

jisung huffed before muttering something under his breath about how rude hyunjin was to his own friend. hyunjin just ignored the boy’s whines.

the first few classes had flown by fast, which meant lunch time had finally arrived.

since hyunjin shared his previous class with felix, the two always walked to their usual lunch table together. at that table, they were always met with the rest of their friends.

seungmin shifted his focus from his conversation with jisung and jeongin to the two boys who were stood in front of them. “oh, hey guys!” he smiled at the two.

“hey, seungmin. how’s your day so far?” felix asked, taking a seat next to jeongin.

seungmin shrugged. “same as always,” he answered before turning to hyunjin. “hey, hyunjin. i think yeonju wanted you to sit with her during lunch today?”

hyunjin gave the boy a confused look.

“are you sure? she never told me anything about having lunch with her,” hyunjin replied. he sat down beside seungmin, placing his bag onto the seat next to him.

“i don’t know,” seungmin muttered. “she was talking about it in class with one of her friends. maybe she texted you?”

still confused, hyunjin took his phone out of his pocket to check if yeonju had texted him about it.

to his surprised, she did.

 **11:38AM | 9 messages from yeonju**  


he opened the text messages from her and read the long thread of texts she had sent to him.

**[11:04] yeonju:**  
hey hyunjin  
just wondering  
do you wanna have lunch together??

 **[11:10] yeonju:**  
???  
hyunjin?

 **[11:25] yeonju:**  
wanna sit with me at lunch?  
hello??  
hyunjin??  
srsly?

hyunjin groaned after reading the messages.

“just from that, i’m going to assume she _did_ text him,” jisung’s voice stated as hyunjin stood up from the lunch table, backpack in hand.

he threw his bag on and gave an apologetic look to the group of boys. “sorry guys,” hyunjin muttered. “i’m going to hang out with yeonju today, but i’ll see you guys after school, yeah?”

the rest of the boys nodded in response except for jeongin, who was too busy picking at his lunch and scrolling through his phone to even acknowledge hyunjin.

hyunjin rolled his eyes at the youngest and said one more farewell before leaving the table.

he found himself at a corner of the lunch area and decided to send a text message to yeonju, apologizing and asking where she was.

**[11:42] hyunjin:**  
hey sorrh i didn’t reply  
sorry

 **[11:42] yeonju:**  
finally you answer

 **[11:43] hyunjin:**  
where are you?  
i’ll hang out with you for the rest of lunch

 **[11:44] yeonju:**  
i had lunch off campus with some friends  
we’re at XX café  
do you think you’ll be able to come??

hyunjin read the text messages and sighed heavily.

it was obvious he wouldn’t be able to make it to wherever yeonju was having lunch, which meant he had left his friends for no reason.

he texted yeonju back.

**[11:46] hyunjin:**  
don’t think i’ll be able to..  
we could have lunch together tmr?  
if you want to?

 **[11:47] yeonju:**  
can’t  
i’m taking a make up test tmr

 **[11:47] hyunjin:**  
how abt wednesday?

 **[11:47] yeonju:**  
hyunjin it’s ok  
we don’t have to have lunch together  
i’ll just wait for this friday

 **[11:48] hyunjin:**  
ok :/

hyunjin groaned in annoyance at the conversation between him and yeonju.

since he wasn’t able to have lunch with yeonju, his only choice was to go back to his friends and awkwardly explain what just happened.

which is exactly what hyunjin did.

“she actually turned you down when you offered to have lunch with her another time?” jisung held in his laughter. “i’m sorry, but that’s so sad.”

hyunjin immediately regretted heading back to his usual lunch table after listening to jisung’s reaction.

felix frowned. “sorry that happened, but at least she’s looking forward to spending time with you on friday?” he mentioned, in hopes that hyunjin would feel better.

“i guess,” hyunjin shrugged.

jeongin—who had been silent during the entire conversation—finally spoke his opinion.

“i bet she’s just going to ask you to buy her things to compensate for all those times you’ve ignored her,” he commented.

hyunjin glared at the younger. “shut up, jeongin.”

seungmin looked back and forth between the two until attempting to calm the conversation down before it turned into a big argument.

“jeongin, don’t say that. i doubt yeonju would do that sort of thing to hyunjin,” seungmin let out, then turned to hyunjin. “and hyunjin, she’s probably just a bit annoyed since you forget about to check your phone from time to time.”

jeongin scoffed, turning his head the other direction to mutter something under his breath. “she’s probably annoyed because you forget her existence from time to time—“

hyunjin immediately slammed a fist down onto the table, gaining the attention of the group of boys and a few students around them.

“no more under-your-breath comments about my relationship with yeonju, you got that?” hyunjin demanded from the younger. his tone was stern and serious.

jeongin huffed out a sigh before standing up from the table with his lunch tray in hand.

hyunjin watched as jeongin began to walk away from the table and so did the other boys.

before jeongin could walk too far off, jisung had called out to him. “hey, where are you going?”

jeongin turned around, his expression was a mixture of annoyance and anger. “i’m going to throw out my trash. lunch is ending soon, anyways.”

“it’s ending in fifteen minutes. you can stay a while longer,” seungmin mentioned.

“no, it’s fine,” jeongin replied. “i don’t want to spend the rest of my lunch with a guy who doesn’t want to admit that he has a bad relationship.”

before jeongin could turn back around to start walking off again, hyunjin just couldn’t hold back.

“like _you_ know anything about relationships,” hyunjin scoffed, causing jeongin to pause in his tracks.

the younger rolled his eyes. “yeah. like _i_ know anything about them,” he replied back before turning around and walking off.

as much as hyunjin wanted to feel bad about jeongin, he just could not stand the boy either.

the last few classes that hyunjin had felt longer than usual. he constantly caught himself staring at the clocks in the corner of the classrooms, counting down the seconds until the school bell would ring.

when the last school bell rang, hyunjin felt relieved to leave the cramped classroom.

he gathered and packed his belongings back into his bag as the teacher reminded the class about homework assignments and such.

once hyunjin walked outside the school building, he immediately felt ten times better.

spotting his group of friends standing around at the school gates, hyunjin began walking towards them.

“hey guys,” he smiled as he got to them.

the boys were mostly silent and something seemed off about the group.

a puzzled look spread across hyunjin’s face.

“everything okay?” he questioned.

seungmin was the first to speak. “yeah, it’s nothing,” he answered. the rest of the boys nodded in agreement.

hyunjin suspected that seungmin was lying considering the atmosphere surrounding them was still a bit off.

he chose to ignore it.

hyunjin fixed his bag over his shoulder and shared a look with each of the boys. “ _okay_...” his voice trailed off. “well, are we heading to woojin’s or not?”

“yeah, we are,” felix commented.

jisung gave them a nod. “yeah, we should start heading there now.”

the atmosphere was still unusually tense to hyunjin, but he tried his best to ignore it.

with that, the group of boys began walking away from the school campus.

the walk to woojin’s café was for the most part quiet and still filled with that unusual atmosphere.

the bells on top of the café doors rang as the boys walked in. they all greeted woojin, who was at the counter and currently taking an order.

the group made their way to their usual table in the café and took their seats.

hyunjin noticed that their table felt more empty for some reason. but then again, a couple of their friends who usually sat with them were in university and weren’t with them at the moment.

after taking that order, woojin headed toward the table of boys.

“hey guys,” he smiled until he scanned the group. suddenly, his expression became confused. “where’s jeongin?”

each of the boys exchanged looks except for hyunjin, who simply shrugged.

“don’t know,” he replied. “i didn’t even notice he wasn’t here? he probably got held in class for a failed assignment or something.”

seungmin glared at hyunjin before speaking up. “he went home. he told us he felt tired and wanted to say sorry to you for not being able to come,” he answered correctly.

woojin frowned. “poor thing. i’ll be sure to text him later and let him know it’s okay.”

“he wasn’t tired,” jisung butted in.

the group looked at him.

jisung shared a look between all of them before glancing at hyunjin. “he was mad at hyunjin because he scolded him during lunch.”

woojin turned to look at hyunjin.

“is that true? what did you scold him for?” he questioned the boy.

hyunjin rolled his eyes. “he was being a brat and acting like he knew all about me and yeonju.”

“still,” felix muttered. “you shouldn’t have gone so far about it.”

“it’s not _my fault_ that he chose to act like he knew everything about my relationship,” hyunjin argued, crossing his arms as he leaned back into the chair.

woojin sent hyunjin a stern look.

“hyunjin,” he began. “i can understand why you’re mad at the kid, but be a bit more lenient with him too.”

hyunjin knew not to argue with woojin, knowing he was the oldest and not wanting to get an earful of nagging for being rude.

he exhaled heavily. “i know,” hyunjin replied.

“do you _really_ , hyunjin?” jisung questioned, causing hyunjin to send a glare his way.

jisung paused for a moment before continuing on.

“you and jeongin are always fighting over small things and most of the time, it’s you who starts it,” jisung mentioned. “we don’t even know why you two fight, but it’s starting to get out of hand.”

each one of the boys around hyunjin nodded, agreeing with jisung’s statements.

seungmin turned his head toward hyunjin.

“that’s true,” he muttered. “why do you and jeongin always fight, if you don’t mind me asking?”

hyunjin stared off to the side, avoiding the group’s gazes.

“we just _don’t_ get along, it’s a long story,” hyunjin let out.

the group of boys chose not to ask any other questions about the topic in fear that hyunjin would get angry at them as well.

felix sighed. “well, whatever it was that happened between you two? could you just put it aside for at least a day?” he asked.

hyunjin wanted to change the topic immediately, but each of the boys began nodding in agreement to felix.

“yeah,” woojin added. “you two are always making a scene at the café and it would be nice if you guys could just ignore each other for a bit instead of arguing back and forth.”

hyunjin shut his eyes for a moment and sighed heavily.

“fine,” he answered back. “i’ll try not to fight with jeongin.”

jisung looked at him with a suspicious expression.

“are you sure you’ll be able to?” he asked hyunjin. 

to which, the boy nodded. “i’ll try my best to.”

the group smiled, most likely because they were hoping that hyunjin was genuinely trying to be a nicer person to jeongin.

as the rest of their afternoon at the café went on, not a second passed where hyunjin wondered how in the hell would he stop fighting with jeongin.

a few hours had already passed since hyunjin was at woojin’s café with the rest of his friends.

he was currently sat at the dinner table in his home doing schoolwork.

it was fairly late into the night.

hyunjin would turn his phone on every few minutes just to check the time displayed on the screen of his phone.

11:58PM

was the time that was shown on hyunjin’s phone screen.

he looked down at the sheets of paper and workbooks in front of him.

most of the work he had to do was already finished and if anything, he could just finish the rest of the assignments in the morning while he was with yeonju.

not wanting to finish the rest of the assignments, hyunjin chose to gather all of his schoolwork and head up to his room so he could get ready for bed.

as he walked toward the staircase with his assignments in hand, a sequence of knocks sounded from the front door of the house.

hyunjin groaned before placing his schoolwork back onto the dinner table and making his way to the door.

it wasn’t a rare occurrence for hyunjin to open the door to his home this late at night.

his father worked late hours and came home during the night most of the time, which lead to hyunjin always opening the door for him while he did homework.

however when hyunjin opened the front door, who he wasn’t expecting was jeongin to be standing right in front of him.

wide eyed and startled, jeongin began to apologize before speaking up.

“oh— uh, sorry. could i talk to your mom?” the younger muttered out.

hyunjin gave the boy a puzzled look. “my mom is asleep. what are _you_ doing here anyways?” he asked.

jeongin bit at his lip before sighing.

“your mom. you know how she’s close to my mom? she has a spare key to my house and i need it,” jeongin explained.

hyunjin looked at the boy, confused.

“why do you need the spare one? don’t you have the key to your own house?” hyunjin questioned him.

jeongin groaned, staring at hyunjin in annoyance. “could you just give me the key? i don’t have to tell you why.”

“if you’re going to be that way, then i guess i don’t have to give you the key _so_ ,” hyunjin mentioned as he slowly began to shut the door.

before the door could fully close, jeongin pushed his hands onto the door to keep it open.

“i forgot to bring my key and my parents aren’t home, so i’m locked out of the house,” jeongin explained before looking up at hyunjin. “so could you _please_ give me the spare key?”

hyunjin made eye contact with the younger. he could see the desperation in the boy’s eyes.

feeling a bit bad, hyunjin headed over to the kitchen.

he opened up one of the drawers that contained miscellaneous objects and searched through it. eventually, he found a key attached to a keychain that read, “the yang’s spare”.

hyunjin grabbed it and walked back to the front door.

jeongin was still stood in front of the door, faced the other direction and looking into the distance.

key still in hand, hyunjin called out to the boy to get his attention.

when jeongin had turned around, hyunjin was holding the key out to the boy.

“here,” he said as he handed the key to the younger. “you better bring it back next time or else my mom will freak out about it to your mom.”

jeongin nodded as he took the key. “yeah, yeah.”

the younger briefly thanked hyunjin before heading off to his own home which was right next to hyunjin’s.

sighing as he closed the door, hyunjin then went to grab his schoolwork that was back on the dinner table.

hyunjin gathered his assignments once more and began to head toward the stairs.

as he made his way up the staircase, he couldn’t help but wonder about jeongin who was alone with no parents at home.


	2. wednesday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! ( ´θ｀)ノ
> 
> i just wanted to say sorry for the long wait but i finally overcame my writer’s block and finished this chapter!!
> 
> a lot has come up in my personal life so chapters may be delayed but hopefully not as long as this one was!

the next morning had arrived quickly.

however, hyunjin was not able to fall asleep too easily during the night. for some reason, his mind was filled with thoughts about jeongin and whether or not the boy was fine being alone at home.

all of hyunjin’s worrying had caused him to fall asleep right before sun rise.

this morning, hyunjin had decided to completely skip out on greeting his friends at woojin’s café all together. he instead made his way straight to the school, just to see yeonju.

the campus was quiet when he had arrived. with only a small amount of students who were in their classrooms already.

hyunjin had arrived so early that when he entered yeonju’s classroom, she was not present. he decided to take advantage of the situation.

walking toward yeonju’s desk, hyunjin sat down at the desk beside the girl’s seat. he took out his schoolwork that he had not completed the night before and started working on it immediately.

it was a productive way to kill time before yeonju would arrive.

but yeonju did not arrive when hyunjin expected.

the school’s warning bell ran, signaling that all students should begin heading to their classrooms.

as hyunjin packed up his things to head out of yeonju’s class, he kept wondering why the girl had not joined hyunjin in the classroom.

after slinging his backpack over his shoulder, a familiar voice called out to hyunjin. he turned toward the classroom door only to see yeonju staring at him.

the girl walked toward hyunjin. “what are you doing here?” she asked him.

“i was waiting for you,” hyunjin muttered. “but, you never came.”

yeonju looked at the boy with a puzzled look. “why didn’t you text me? how was i supposed to know you were in here?”

hyunjin stared at her blankly.

what she said was true. hyunjin should have let her know that he had been waiting for her.

however, instead of agreeing with the girl, hyunjin’s first instinct was to argue back.

“you’re usually in the classroom early, so i thought you’d get here soon after i did,” hyunjin replied.

a small window of silence washed over them.

thankfully, there were no other students in the classroom yet to witness the two fighting.

“i felt like you were going to be with your friends instead of me,” yeonju shot back. “that’s why i didn’t even bother to get here early.”

before hyunjin could respond back with another comment, yeonju breathed out a heavy sigh and then added one more statement.

“you know what, hyunjin?”

the boy looked at her, curious as to what she would say next.

“please, just text me. about anything.”

after finishing her sentence, yeonju walked past hyunjin and toward her desk.

hyunjin wanted to say more to her, but students were already filing into the classroom.

he decided to leave to his own classroom, not wanting to burden yeonju with his presence any longer.

it was probably the better choice.

hyunjin made his way down the long hallway. his home classroom was not too far from yeonju’s.

it was not until a tug on his backpack stopped him in his tracks.

turning around, hyunjin was prepared to give a talk to whoever pulled on his bag. 

however, every line he came up with in his head was forgotten when he saw jeongin standing in front of him with the boy’s spare house key in hand.

jeongin held out the spare key to hyunjin, not sparing the older a look. “i said i’d give it back, so here.”

hyunjin exchanged glances back and forth between jeongin and the boy’s hand before taking the key from it.

“thanks,” hyunjin muttered out. “you got home fine, right?”

hyunjin was not entirely sure why he asked that question. it must have been the pent up concern for the younger that he had been thinking about all night.

“like _you’d_ actually care,” jeongin snapped back.

taken aback by the younger’s sudden attitude change, hyunjin shot an insult back.

“whatever then. see if i give you the spare key next time you ask for it,” hyunjin retorted, but the boy stormed off before he could even finish.

hyunjin’s mood was now at a low.

first, he and yeonju had an argument. now, jeongin was being a brat towards him.

going to class would make hyunjin feel even worse, but there was no point in ditching.

he continued walking to class. the spare key to jeongin’s house dangled in his hand.

lunchtime felt like hours away as hyunjin sat in his last class for the morning. he shared the class with felix—who sat in front of him—so at least he had someone to pass time with.

“we have a while until the lunch bell rings, so i’ll allow you all to chat for the last few minutes of class,” the teacher announced.

hyunjin watched as felix turned around at his desk to face him.

“i noticed you weren’t at the café this morning. did you hang out with yeonju?” felix asked, his head tilted in curiosity.

hyunjin nodded. “yeah, that was the plan. but it didn’t exactly work out the way it was supposed to.”

“it didn’t work out well?” felix questioned. “did you two argue?”

a sigh escaped from hyunjin’s lips. “i’d rather not talk about it,” he suggested.

a silence lingered between the two boys.

hyunjin reached into his pocket and took out the spare key to jeongin’s house. he fidgeted around with it, twirling it around his fingers.

he really did not understand why he asked jeongin about whether or not the boy got home alright. it was not like hyunjin to worry about something like that, especially if it had to do with jeongin. normally, hyunjin would have completely ignored the younger or shot an insult at him.

“hyunjin?”

felix’s deep voice brought hyunjin back to reality.

“sorry,” hyunjin muttered out. “i was just thinking about stuff.”

felix gave him a nod, as to show that he understood. hearing the jangling of jeongin’s spare key in hyunjin’s hand, felix questioned the boy.

he pointed at hyunjin’s hand. “is that jeongin’s?” felix asked.

hyunjin’s eyes widened before frantically shoving the key back into the pocket of his pants.

“what?” hyunjin attempted to play it off, acting confused as to why felix had asked him that.

“that key? isn’t it jeongin’s?” felix replied. “i’m only guessing because i saw it had yang written on it.”

hyunjin’s face rose in temperature.

he managed to blurt out a lie as quick as he could. “no, uh— my mom accidentally gave me her work keys instead of our house key and her manager’s surname is yang, so yeah.”

felix gave hyunjin a suspicious look before shrugging it off.

it was not long until the bell rang, signaling the students to leave for lunch.

remembering that he didn’t want to get an earful from yeonju, hyunjin took his phone out of his back pocket and checked the screen for any texts.

**11:31AM | 2 messages from yeonju**

hyunjin unlocked his phone and immediately went to his text messages to reply to yeonju.

**[11:29] yeonju:**  
hey i’m really sorry abt this morning  
wanna have lunch together?

being cautious of where he was walking, hyunjin quickly sent out a reply to yeonju.

**[11:32] hyunjin:**  
totally

 **[11:32] yeonju:**  
okay!  
i’m in the quad area rn

 **[11:33] hyunjin:**  
gotcha, ill be there in a bit

hyunjin reached over to felix, stopping them in their tracks. felix turned around. a puzzled expression spread across his face.

“yeonju wants to have lunch with me,” hyunjin began. “so tell the guys that i won’t be at the table today.”

felix nodded understandingly. “i’m sure they’ll be fine with it. go head over to your _lady friend_ ,” felix joked.

hyunjin landed a small punch to felix’s bicep and the two chuckled as they exchanged farewells. without hesitation, hyunjin rushed to the quad.

the quad was not as packed as usual. normally, there would be crowds of students filling up the area. however, it seemed as if there were barely any student in the quad at the moment.

searching through the small sea of students, hyunjin spotted yeonju sitting at a bench nearby the center of the quad. he headed toward her, ready to apologize for their argument that had occurred that morning.

“yeonju!” hyunjin called out to the girl, waving an arm in the air to grab her attention.

he watched as yeonju scanned the quad before her gaze landed on hyunjin. she shot a smile his way and waved back.

finally reaching the girl, hyunjin managed to mutter out the beginning of an apology. “yeonju. about this morning, i—“

“don’t sweat it,” the girl interrupted.

hyunjin looked at her with a puzzled expression. “what do you mean?”

“i already know you’re sorry,” yeonju answered. “i’d rather just agree to disagree instead of arguing like earlier today.”

“but i—“

yeonju’s gaze landed on hyunjin’s face. “ _seriously_. don’t worry,” she smiled sweetly before her expression faltered. “besides, i’ve gotta apologize too for doubting that you’d be in the classroom and just snapping at you.”

a smile crept onto hyunjin’s face. he was glad that he and yeonju had come to terms with their situation.

“hey,” hyunjin called out.

yeonju’s eyes landed on him once again. her head tilted in curiousity.

the boy gave her a wide smile. “let’s go have lunch off campus.”

the bell rang throughout the school halls, signaling that the school day was over.

hyunjin stretched in his seat.

his day was not as bad as he had expected it to be after getting to a nasty fight with yeonju.

the two had made up and apologized to each other. they then spent time off campus to talk and have lunch together.

hyunjin could not have asked for a better day.

he stood up from his desk and slung his backpack over his shoulder. peering outside the classroom window beside his seat, he could spot his friends waiting for him by the school gates.

a smile tugged at his lips before he rushed out of his classroom to the gates.

“seungmin! felix! jisung!” hyunjin called out, not bothering to call jeongin’s name out of sheer awkwardness.

the trio of boys turned toward the voice and shot beaming smiles at him. jeongin, on the other hand, barely noticed that hyunjin had arrived.

“chan just texted me that him, changbin, and minho were going to meet us at woojin’s café,” felix mentioned.

jisung wrapped his arms along felix’s and seungmin’s shoulders. “what are we waiting for then?” he laughed before continuing. “let’s go!”

the boys began walking the path to woojin’s café, which they had memorized due to their constant visits.

on the walk to the café, jisung was busy complaining to felix about an assignment from a mathematics teacher they both shared. seungmin was the one leading the group toward woojin’s workplace, but he also made comments to jisung and felix’s conversations.

they all seemed to be in great moods.

however, hyunjin and jeongin were the opposite.

the two never talked to the other willingly. last time being when jeongin gave hyunjin his spare key back.

in hopes to break the tension between him and jeongin, hyunjin muttered out a question.

“so,” he began. “i’m guessing you got your house key this time, right?”

jeongin’s eyes widened before he turned his head. “yeah, but it’s not like it’s any of your business.”

“ah,” hyunjin mumbled out. “you’re right, sorry.”

hyunjin watched jeongin glance at him for a second from the corner of his eye. he heard jeongin breathe out a sigh and saw the younger turned toward him.

“it’s okay, i’ve been really moody lately,” jeongin confessed.

hyunjin looked at the younger, giving an understanding nod. “i get it. and you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to.”

jeongin shook his head. “no, no. i’ve been super rude these days and i’m usually not the type to talk back to you guys, not even you especially with how _you_ treat me.”

hearing that made something inside hyunjin feel sorry for jeongin.

he was always mocking the younger and poking at him whenever he had the chance to.

“oh,” hyunjin let out. “yeah, i guess.”

hyunjin had never realized how much jeongin has put up with. hyunjin was always picking fights over small things with the boy and all this time, jeongin has never done anything back to him.

the group of boys walk into the café. the smell of coffee and the rattling sounds of the bells on the door remind them all of their favorite place.

“hey you guys!” a familiar voice called out to them.

hyunjin turned to the source of the voice. waving from the table in the corner of the café was changbin, a smile present on his face.

“changbin!” hyunjin heard felix’s voice exclaim back.

the group made their way over to the table. changbin, chan, and minho seemed to have been at the café for a while. hyunjin speculated due to their half full beverages and the partially eaten brick toast in the middle of their table.

changbin put his hand down and stood from his seat to give felix a small hug from across the table. “so how’s your guys’ day been?” he asked after sitting back down.

a variety of answers came from the boys as they all sat around the table and into their usual seats.

“my day went really well actually!” hyunjin smiled.

chan’s head tilted from across the table. “oh? and why’s that?”

everyone shifted their focus toward hyunjin to hear what he had to say.

“ _well_ ,” hyunjin began. “i had a little fight with yeonju before school, but we ended up making up and having lunch together outside campus!”

“that’s good to hear!” chan smiled.

jisung beamed up and turned to hyunjin. “so _that’s_ why you weren’t at the lunch table today!” he blurted out.

“holy shit jisung,” minho laughed. “you’re so loud, my eardrum almost bursted.”

an offended expression washed across jisung’s face before the boy gave minho a playful punch. “shut up! i’m not _that_ loud.”

the group laughed at the couple.

hyunjin heard footsteps making their way to the table, causing him to turn around.

“hey! how long have the kiddos been here?” woojin asked, making it to their table.

“not too long, we just got here!” seungmin answered.

“ah, i see,” woojin looked around the table. “anyone want to order something?”

each of the boys except for jeongin all ordered something from the menu.

woojin jotted each of the orders onto his notepad before looking up at group. “not ordering anything today, jeongin?”

jeongin looked back at woojin, startled at the sudden calling of his name. he shook his head. “no, not today,” he muttered.

“you sure?” woojin tilted his head. “i can whip up a good iced hot chocolate on the house for you if it has to do with your family?”

jeongin shook his head again.

hyunjin did not understand what woojin meant when he mentioned jeongin’s family. from what he had known from his own family, the yang family was always lenient with their kids. not understanding, hyunjin brushed the statement off.

woojin frowned. “alrighty then,” he muttered before smiling at the others again. “i’ll be back with your orders, okay?”

as woojin walked away from the table, the older boys began to question jeongin. concerned about the younger’s attitude, they each asked questions.

“you good, jeongin?” minho asked.

jeongin nodded.

changbin sighed. “we’re always here to talk to, you know that,” he mentioned.

jeongin nodded once more.

chan gave a look at each other the boys before standing from his seat at the table. he walked around and to jeongin’s seat, putting a hand on the younger’s shoulder and whispering something to the boy. without any context, the group watched as jeongin and chan left the café to chat outside.

“do you guys think he’s okay?” seungmin asked, still staring out the café window at the two.

jisung took a sip from minho’s beverage. “isn’t jeongin always this quiet though?”

“no,” hyunjin shook his head. “jeongin‘s usually fighting with me throughout the day, but he told me that he felt bad for being rude to me while we were walking here.”

hyunjin had taken notice of the slight frown that crept onto changbin’s face, which felix had noticed as well.

“jeongin will be fine, binnie,” felix let out. “we know how he always manages to push through.”

changbin nodded. “yeah.. i guess i’ve just been worried since he told me that he’s been feeling super down lately.”

hyunjin’s head tilted in confusion.

_jeongin feeling down lately? why?_

hyunjin had thought that the only reason for jeongin’s sudden mood change was due to their constant fighting. he did dislike the younger for a reason he swore he would never mention again, but he admitted to himself that he never wanted to see him sad.

“how about i try to cheer him up?” hyunjin suggested.

the group looked at him in somewhat shock.

“ _you_ wanna help out jeongin?” jisung questioned.

minho nodded in agreement. “aren’t you two always fighting about small shit? why would you suddenly want to help him?”

hyunjin sighed heavily. he took a nervous gulp before explaining himself.

“i feel like jeongin’s acting this way because of me,” he mentioned. “i’ve been a bit harsher on him these past few days, so it’s probably my fault for poking at him and causing him to be super quiet and just.. not himself.”

changbin gave a look toward hyunjin before looking at felix for reassurance and then back to hyunjin.

“hyunjin,” he began. “i feel like you and jeongin really need to make up for whatever shit got in between you two.”

hyunjin swallowed thickly before staring off to the side, attempting to avoid eye contact with the older.

he heard felix clear his throat before elaborating. “listen, hyunjin. i know you don’t want to tell us what happened between you guys and you don’t have to tell us, but it’d be a good idea to just make up about it. forgive and forget.” felix explained.

turning back to look at the group, hyunjin watched as all the boys nodded in agreement to felix’s statement.

hyunjin wanted to walk away right then and there until chan and jeongin came back in and so did woojin with their beverages.

“ah chan! we were just talking about how hyunjin should—“

“ _jisung_.”

the group fell into an awkward silence as hyunjin shot a glare at the boy after stopping him from finishing his sentence.

chan looked back and forth between the two before breaking the silence. “i’m taking jeongin home early, he’s not feeling well.” chan told the group.

“awh.. well we’ll see you tomorrow, jeongin!” felix exclaimed. “i hope you feel better.”

minho nodded. “yeah, staying at home and getting rest will probably help ease your stress.”

jeongin avoided eye contact with all of them.

woojin placed the tray of beverages onto the table before gently putting a hand on the youngest’s shoulder.

hyunjin could faintly hear woojin’s voice mutter something along the lines of “you can always call if you need something,” to which jeongin nodded.

taking his hand off of jeongin, woojin reached over to hand chan one of the drinks on the tray.

“it’s an iced hot chocolate for him,” woojin mumbled, motioning towards jeongin. “make sure he’s alright when he gets home.”

chan muttered out a reassuring reply before giving the older a peck on the cheek.

chan turned to the group. “we’ll be heading out now then! see you all tomorrow, yeah?”

the group said many answers, all agreeing to see them again the next day.

“ah wait!” hyunjin let out, causing chan and jeongin to stop walking toward the door. chan looked at hyunjin with confusion.

without any idea what he was going to say in the first place, hyunjin had only managed to let out a farewell.

“bye chan. and jeongin,” he muttered, the boy’s back still faced towards him. “you have your key, right?”

instead of replying, jeongin continued to walk out of the café and to chan’s car. chan gave an apologetic look to hyunjin before going after the younger.

for some reason, hyunjin always found a way to never say things to jeongin that he really wanted to.

hyunjin went home shortly after jeongin had left with chan. the walk to his house felt longer than usual and his feet seemed to be dragging.

he told his group of friends that he would try his best to make jeongin feel better, but _how_?

ever since hyunjin began to be ignorant toward jeongin, the younger started getting quieter and quieter with him. barely speaking whenever hyunjin was present yet being so lively when with the rest of the group. hyunjin knew that due to jisung always going on about how much more jeongin would talk whenever hyunjin left the café first.

there was always a disconnect between the two of them and hyunjin never wanted to acknowledge it.

“hyunjin!”

the sound of his mother’s voice from the kitchen startled him as he walked through the front door.

“oh,” he muttered out. “hey mom.”

hyunjin watched his mother shoot a gentle smile toward him.

his mother turned back to the kitchen counter. “you’re home early,” she mentioned.

nodding, hyunjin replied. “yeah, haha.”

he walked to the dining table and took a seat, putting his backpack down. hyunjin turned his body toward his mother as he watched her pack a few side dishes into some plastic containers.

“i thought you’d be at the café a little longer with the boys,” his mother stated before closing off the last container. “but it’s a good thing you’re here now.”

hyunjin’s head tilted to the side as a confused expression washed over his face.

picking up the plastic containers full of side dishes, his mother walked over to the dining table and brought them over to hyunjin.

“the yang’s are on another business trip this week and next week, so i wanted to send over some food for their boys if they ever got hungry,” hyunjin’s mother explained.

hyunjin’s expression deepened. “they’re on _another_ business trip?”

his mother nodded. “yup. they left yesterday afternoon,” she added. “so would you mind going next door and giving these to them?”

“sure,” hyunjin agreed, hesitantly taking the containers full of side dishes into his hands. he really did not want to step foot near the yang household like he did before, but he could not just say no to his own mother.

his mother thanked him before sending him outside to go knock on jeongin’s family house.

hyunjin stood at the front porch of the yang’s home, unable to knock because of the containers in his hands. he reached over and pushed onto the doorbell with his elbow.

a few seconds passed before hyunjin could hear faint voices behind the door.

_“jeongin!”_

_“what, jaein?”_

_“someone’s at the door!”_

_“do you know who?”_

_“mhm! it’s hyunjin!”_

a wave of silence.

_“jeongin, get the door!”_

another wave of silence.

_“jeongin! the door!”_

_“jaein.”_

hyunjin heard a loud whine from the other side of the front door before jeongin’s younger brother, jaein, opened it.

an obvious annoyed look was plastered onto the younger’s face. “sorry about that, jeongin didn’t wanna get the door,” the boy turned toward the inside of the house before exclaiming. “even though he was _already_ in the living room!”

hyunjin chuckled before smiling.

“no worries,” he replied.

jaein looked at the side dishes in hyunjin’s hands. “oh! are those for us?” the boy asked.

nodding, hyunjin answered back with a smile and a short “yeah.”

the younger looked into the house before turning back to hyunjin. “you can come in and put them in the kitchen!” the boy let out and walked into the house.

it had been a while since hyunjin had been inside the yang’s home. he used to always visit when he was little and his parents were at work. he never mentioned it to his friends, but he actually used to be really close to the yang family.

the house looked the same as before. a clean and neat interior with small messes created by jaein.

hyunjin followed jaein into the house and placed the side dishes onto the kitchen island. about to say his farewell, jaein interrupted him.

“you should stay for a bit!” the younger suggested.

taken aback, hyunjin attempted to decline. “ah, no. i don’t wanna bother you or jeongin,” he admitted.

jaein shook his head. “no, no! it’s fine! besides, it’s been lonely without jeonghyuk and jeongin doesn’t even leave his room anymore.”

the name of the yang’s oldest son sent shivers down hyunjin’s spine. he shook the thoughts clouding his mind off and focused back onto the younger.

“sorry jaein, i should probably go home,” hyunjin gave the boy an apologetic look. “but maybe next time i can come over for dinner?”

“awh.. okay,” jaein pouted.

hyunjin chuckled softly before reaching over to pat the younger’s shoulder.

the two exchanged goodbyes and some “see you later’s” before hyunjin walked out the front door and back to his house.

when he got back home, his mother was not in the kitchen anymore. he assumed she had probably went upstairs to get ready for bed.

hyunjin made his way to his bedroom and threw himself onto the bed.

_ding!_

his phone rang from his back pocket. startled, hyunjin took the phone out and read the notification on the bright screen in front of him.

**6:42PM | 1 message from jeongin**

hyunjin unlocked his phone and opened the message, curious as to what the younger could have sent him.

**[6:42] jeongin:**  
thank you for the side dishes

the message took hyunjin aback. jeongin never bothered messaging him, so it felt like a big ordeal. it did not take long for hyunjin to quickly type out a response and send it.

**[6:43] hyunjin:**  
no problem

a pit in hyunjin’s stomach formed as he contemplated asking the younger a question before he had to turn off his phone. overwhelmed with curiousity, hyunjin typed out the question into his phone and hesitantly sent it to jeongin.

**[6:45] hyunjin:**  
how is jeonghyuk?

minutes passed and jeongin did not reply. the three small dots that would appear on hyunjin’s screen to signal that jeongin was typing would go on and off every few seconds. that was until jeongin finally replied.

**[6:50] jeongin:**  
he’s ok

jeongin’s response only made him even more anxious and angry at the younger. jeongin obviously knew why hyunjin would ask and why the answer was so important to him, but there was no use in arguing about it.

hyunjin turned his phone off and stood from his bed, walking out of his room to get ready for bed.


	3. thursday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the late update again!! i hope ur all staying safe during the pandemic!! <3 im already planning on writing the next chapter soon, so hopefully there won’t be a long wait for it!!!

_“hyunjin!”_

a soft voice called out to him.

the voice sounded far too familiar which made hyunjin follow the source of it.

his vision was hazy and his surroundings seemed to be covered in mist. but eventually, in front of him stood a faceless figure. the figure was a little shorter than he was and had dark brown, borderline black hair. it did not take long before hyunjin recognized the figure, startling himself.

_“jeonghyuk?”_ hyunjin managed to utter out.

the face of the familiar figure finally appeared and stared at hyunjin with a kind expression.

the figure of jeongin’s older brother looked up at hyunjin, giving a small smile before speaking up. _“hyunjin?”_

hyunjin stared at the boy with complete confusion as to why he called his name.

_“yeah, jeonghyuk?”_ hyunjin asked.

in a meer second, the older boy’s expression went blank. a pair of deadpan eyes shot through hyunjin, taking him aback. soon after that, a smug look washed over jeonghyuk’s face.

letting out a string of laughs before a scoff, jeonghyuk looked straight into hyunjin’s eyes and spoke in a monotone voice.

_“you absolutely disgust me, hwang hyunjin.”_

panicked, hyunjin suddenly woke up in a cold sweat. he sat up from his bed, his breathing heavy and rapid. when he reached up to his face, he could feel that there were streaks of tears on his cheeks.

hyunjin had not had a dream about that certain person in so long that it startled him.

the trauma hyunjin had to endure that very day was enough to make him feel shaken up by even the meet thought of it, yet he did not have anyone he could talk to so that he could ease that pain.

he mustered up the courage to get out of bed and get ready for school, no matter how badly he did not want to.

arriving at school, hyunjin stood at the school gates and took his phone out of his pocket. he quickly typed up the same message to yeonju and his groupchat with his friends before heading into the school itself.

**[7:28AM] hyunjin:**  
not feeling well  
so ill be in my first class

upon walking up the stairs to hyunjin’s first classroom, he heard the tapping of footsteps heading down the steps. before he could look up and see who was there, the voice that called to him helped him figure out who it was.

looking up, hyunjin managed a smile. “hey seungmin.”

the boy smiled back at him. “saw your text in the groupchat, everything alright?” seungmin asked.

“yeah,” hyunjin nodded. “i just felt sick this morning.”

as much as hyunjin loved and trusted his friends, none of them knew about his situation with jeongin’s older brother. he never mentioned it because he hated recalling what had happened between them. the only person who knows exactly what went on between the two of them is jeongin, which makes hyunjin’s stomach churn.

“awh..” seungmin gave him a slight pout.

walking to the step that hyunjin was at, seungmin put the back of his hand on hyunjin’s forehead and did the same to himself.

putting his hands down, seungmin looked at hyunjin with a concerned expression. “you’re feeling a little warm.. maybe you should go rest at the nurse’s instead of going to class?” seungmin suggested.

“ah,” hyunjin muttered. “i’ll go do that then.”

seungmin nodded and replied. “you have first period with jisung, right? i’ll tell him to let your teacher know.”

“thanks,” hyunjin mumbled.

the two boys exchanged “see you later’s” before going their separate ways.

hyunjin sighed.

first, the nightmare and now, a fever?

hyunjin listened to seungmin and turned around to walk to the first floor of the school building, to the nurse’s office.

walking into the nurse’s office, it was cold. the room would usually feel so clean and sterile despite the many students who would check in only to sleep during their class time.

the nurse seemed to be checked out at the moment, so hyunjin walked over to the check-in roster and wrote down his name.

hyunjin then walked toward the recovery bed area, pushing the sheer curtains of the first bed open so he could get to it. hyunjin placed his backpack on the floor. he got onto the bed and shut the curtains back closed. closing his eyes, he took in a few deep breaths. he felt his body relax.

soon enough, he managed to fall asleep.

only an hour had passed while hyunjin rested in the nurse’s office. not wanting to bother the nurse or miss his classes, he checked out of the nurse’s office after the nurse had taken his temperature to make sure he could leave.

hyunjin made his way to his second class, knowing that his first class had already ended. as he got closer to his classroom, he heard a group of underclassmen joking around. before hyunjin could enter his class, he heard one of the underclassmen shout.

“yang jeongin! come here!”

hyunjin looked back to the group and spotted jeongin walking toward them.

he watched as they all surrounded jeongin and laughed with him. the younger was smiling widely, which was an expression that hyunjin was not familiar with seeing on jeongin. the two of them would usually be straight faced, not wanting to show any vulnerability to each other.

jeongin managed to catch hyunjin looking at him. the younger ducked down, staring at the floor in sulk. hyunjin glared at the boy, remembering their texts last night. he then turned around and walked into his classroom.

hyunjin’s class periods seemed to pass by slower than they usually did, possibly due to the migraine that kept washing over his head every few minutes. he opted to spend lunch resting at the nurse’s office again rather than having lunch with his group of friends or even yeonju. hyunjin had debated whether or not he should call his mother to give him permission to leave school early. he ultimately decided not to, knowing that the walk home would most likely make his migraines worse and more drawn out.

hyunjin managed to get through the entire school day, even while enduring a throbbing migraine. he walked out of the school building and saw his group of friends and jeongin standing by the gate as per usual.

“hey hyunjin,” felix smiled.

seungmin placed the back of his hand onto hyunjin’s forehead and his other onto his own. “your fever went down, so that’s good!” seungmin mentioned.

hyunjin managed a small smile back. “yeah.”

hyunjin could see jeongin glancing at him from the corner of his eye. he chose to ignore it, not wanting to waste any energy on nagging at the younger.

“hey,” jisung muttered before walking over and patting hyunjin on the shoulder. “maybe we should skip out on heading to woojin’s? it’s been a pretty long day for hyunjin and it would suck to not have him hang out at the café anyways.”

seungmin and felix nodded in agreement while jeongin stood in silence.

hyunjin shook his head, “no, it’s fine. don’t worry about me.” he waved his hands in front of him. “you guys can head over to woojin’s, just let him know that i wasn’t feeling well.”

felix exchanged a look with seungmin before turning toward hyunjin. “are you sure? i don’t want you to feel left out,” he let out.

hyunjin nodded. “go on without me. besides, i can always hang out with you guys at woojin’s tomorrow.”

the boys all looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement. felix threw his arms along seungmin’s and jeongin’s shoulders before seungmin turned his head to look at hyunjin.

“alright then,” he mumbled. “get home safe, _alright?_ ”

“i will, don’t worry,” hyunjin smiled small.

the three exchanged farewells while jeongin stood next to felix, not saying anything to hyunjin. soon after, hyunjin began walking the opposite direction that the other boys were headed.

it was not long before hyunjin heard the sound of footsteps rapidly coming from behind him. when he turned around to inspect where the source of the footsteps were, he was taken aback by what he saw.

in front of hyunjin was a running jeongin, who stopped in front of him to catch his breath. the younger stood up straight and stared at hyunjin awkwardly. hyunjin recalled their text messages from the night before and instead of staring back at jeongin, he turned around and continued to walk.

some more footsteps followed behind him. “hyunjin, wait!”

hyunjin did not listen. he kept walking, trying his absolute best to avoid the younger.

suddenly a hand wrapped around hyunjin’s wrist, startling him. this caused hyunjin to try and pull his wrist away, knowing that it was jeongin who had gotten ahold of him. however, the older just could not manage to.

hyunjin spun around and gave the younger a stern look. “let go of me,” he demanded.

jeongin bit his bottom lip and then shook his head, “no.”

“jeongin,” hyunjin called firmly. “ _let go_ of my hand and _stop_ following me.”

_“no,”_ jeongin replied.

hyunjin was getting irritated by the boy’s attitude. he always had a short temper whenever it came to jeongin and now the younger was just testing how far he could push hyunjin’s buttons.

“i texted your mom about your fever...” jeongin mentioned. “and she asked me if i could take care of you after school since she wouldn’t be home until late.”

hyunjin stared jeongin down, not believing a word the boy was spewing out of his mouth.

as if jeongin could read the older’s mind, he added on, “i have the texts if you don’t believe me,” he muttered out.

right as hyunjin was about to scold the younger and argue with him, a wave of migraines washed over him. he held his thumb and middle finger to his temples to attempt to soothe the pain, but it did not do anything.

“whatever,” hyunjin stated. “just _don’t_ talk to me on the way home.”

jeongin nodded as to not irritate the older any more than he already had and the two began walking together.

the walk seemed drawn out and longer than usual to hyunjin, most likely due to the throbbing headaches that he kept getting. once arriving at his front door, hyunjin reached into the back of his pocket and took out his house keys. jeongin stood behind him silently as the older unlocked the door and walked in. but before jeongin could step foot in the house, hyunjin stopped him.

“i never said _you_ could come inside,” hyunjin disclosed.

jeongin looked at the older in confusion. “but, your mom asked me to—“

“i’ll tell her you came by,” hyunjin interrupted. “i already know you feel forced to take care of me because of my mom, so you can go.”

hyunjin muttered out a short farewell before beginning to close the front door. however before he could close it all the way shut, jeongin held it open.

“i’m not being _forced_ to help you,” jeongin began. “i feel bad and think of it as a thanks for the side dishes from last night.”

the door creaked open a bit as hyunjin gave a look at the younger before sighing and giving in, opening the door wide.

hyunjin walked toward the dining table in his home, placing his backpack onto one of the dining chairs. he made his way to the fridge to grab a bottle of water for himself. he could hear jeongin’s footsteps as the younger placed his bag onto one of the dining chairs as well.

hyunjin shut the fridge and turned around, watching jeongin observe the living room from where he was standing.

“your place hasn’t changed a bit since the last time i’ve been here,” jeongin let out a small giggle before turning to hyunjin.

“yeah,” hyunjin leaned against the fridge and took a sip of his water. “it’s _definitely_ been a while since you’ve been here.”

jeongin’s expression faltered. he seemed unsettled and awkward after hyunjin’s comment.

jeongin looked toward hyunjin. “uh, could i get some water too?” he asked.

hyunjin moved away from the fridge and slung his backpack back over his shoulder, walking toward the staircase. “go ahead,” he let out. “i’m going to my room.”

upon mentioning that, hyunjin could hear jeongin rushing to get a bottle of water from the fridge and follow behind hyunjin before the older could turn around and stop him.

“i said _i’m_ going to my room,” hyunjin began. “i never said you could too.”

the stern expression on hyunjin’s face seemed to intimidate jeongin as the younger nodded and headed over to sit at the dining table silently. hyunjin exhaled a sigh out of relief and continued heading upstairs to his bedroom.

hyunjin had never let any of his friends into his home, not even yeonju. the only person that had been to his house before was jeongin, back when the two were younger.

in fact, hyunjin and jeongin used to be very close in the past. however, it changed when a secret of hyunjin’s had been told to someone he thought would never find out.

_ding!_

hyunjin’s phone went off not even a minute after he had shut the door to his bedroom. taking his phone out of his back pocket, he read the display on the screen in front of him.

**4:56PM | 1 message from mom**

unlocking his phone, hyunjin went directly to his messages to see what his mother had sent him.

**[4:56] mom:**  
i got a text from jeongin that you were sick so i let him know to take care of you

hyunjin groaned before sending back a reply.

**[4:56] hyunjin:**  
thanks mom  
he walked home with me so dont worry

**[4:57] mom:**  
ok good  
there’s left over beef stew from dinner  
please share it with jeongin yeah?

hyunjin rolled his eyes and sighed at the message. he typed back a reply, not wanting to worry his mother.

**[4:58] hyunjin:**  
okay i got it

hyunjin shut off his phone and placed it back in his pocket. he threw his bag and water bottle onto his bed before walking over to his desk chair to grab the hoodie that was hanging over it. hyunjin threw on the hoodie, proceeding to head out of his bedroom and back downstairs.

nearing the bottom of the staircase, hyunjin could see jeongin still sat at the dining table. the younger seemed to be working on schoolwork by the look of it. as much as hyunjin did not want to show any kindness to jeongin, it was only right to.

hyunjin made his way over to the fridge, startling jeongin with his sudden appearance.

the younger paused before talking. “are you feeling okay?” he asked.

hyunjin nodded as he took out the pot full of beef stew from the fridge. “yeah,” he let out. “just hungry.”

walking to the stove, hyunjin could hear jeongin mutter a small “okay” but chose not to acknowledge it. he placed the pot onto the stove top and turned on one of the burners, slowly heating up the food.

“you hungry too?” hyunjin asked the younger.

the question must have taken the younger aback because jeongin hesitated to respond. it made sense that the boy was startled, hyunjin had never directly asked him any questions in the past.

“oh,” jeongin let out. “yeah... could you make me some too, please?”

the soft spoken tone of the younger managed to startle hyunjin as well. jeongin was always blunt and rude to hyunjin during their little quarrels, so it was new to hear the boy be so polite.

hyunjin nodded as he stirred the pot. “yeah, sure.”

the two fell silent after the interaction.

the ambience of hyunjin’s house somehow felt comfortable, although the two never seemed like it. the sound of the beef stew boiling as hyunjin stirred the ladle along with the quiet scratches of jeongin’s pencil against paper. it felt almost surreal that the two boys were at peace with each other’s presence.

hyunjin clicked the burner off and told jeongin to grab a bowl.

it took a second for hyunjin to realise that the younger did not know where the tablewear was as he then turned around only to see jeongin at one of the cabinets of his kitchen. the boy managed to find the cabinet full of bowls easily.

jeongin took notice of hyunjin’s slight shock and chuckled softly. “i kind of figured the bowls would be where i remember they were before,” he explained.

hyunjin looked away from him and back at the pot of stew, feeling a bit embarrassed that the fact that jeongin had been to his home in the past had slipped his mind.

a bowl was placed in hyunjin’s line of sight. hyunjin took a ladle-full of the beef stew and poured it into the bowl, thinking it was jeongin’s. however, when he turned back to the stew, jeongin cleared his throat to catch hyunjin’s attention. he turned back to the younger and realised that jeongin was holding another empty bowl.

hyunjin looked back and forth between jeongin and the other bowl in confusion. “did you want me to pour another bowl for jaein or something?” he asked.

jeongin let out a giggle and shook his head. “no, no! i brought the other bowl for you since you said you were hungry too,” he explained.

hyunjin was not used to hearing jeongin’s laughter or soft spoken words. it almost flustered him how different the younger was in front of him than he would be in front of their other friends.

looking back at the pot, hyunjin ladled another portion of the stew for jeongin. he would hear the younger’s footsteps toward the dining table. hyunjin went to pick up his bowl of stew before looking at jeongin sat at the table. he contemplated whether or not he should sit with the boy and have dinner together, yet he chose not to. the atmosphere between them felt awkward to hyunjin, especially after the incident with the bowl.

hyunjin began to head toward the stairs, however before he got to the first step, jeongin’s voice called out to him.

“hyunjin?”

the older turned around and made eye contact with jeongin. “what?”

“thanks for the food,” jeongin smiled small.

a sudden pang in hyunjin’s chest caused him to swallow thickly and nod in response, not bothering to reply with anything. the older continued to his bedroom.

a fair amount of time had passed since jeongin thanked hyunjin for the food.

hyunjin sat in his bedroom, at his desk. the empty bowl beside his computer keyboard seemingly taunted him. he should have walked downstairs a while ago to wash it in the kitchen sink, but he did not want to face jeongin once more.

_ding!_

the sound rang from hyunjin’s phone which was still in his back pocket. he slid it out of his pocket and read the screen.

**5:42PM | 3 messages from jeongin**

hyunjin unlocked his phone and went to read the messages the younger had sent him.

**[5:41] jeongin:**  
jaein got home from his after school classes  
i’m gonna head home  
ty for the food and i hope u feel better soon :)

hyunjin reread the messages multiple times before getting snapped back into reality at the sound of his front door opening and closing shut. jeongin must have left his house just then. for reassurance, hyunjin looked outside his bedroom window which was right in front of his desk. he looked down at the pavement and watched as the younger made his way next doors, the front door opened for jeongin most likely by jaein.

hyunjin sat back in his chair. he looked back down at his desk and noticed the empty bowl once more. groaning in annoyance, hyunjin stood up from his seat and grabbed the bowl. he walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen, where he washed the bowl himself and placed it onto the dish drying rack.

wiping his hands dry after washing the bowl, hyunjin leaned back onto the kitchen counter with his arms crossed along his chest. he looked toward the dining table to the spot where jeongin had sat at. there were eraser shavings still on the table which made hyunjin chuckle. the younger was always messy even when the two boys were kids.

hyunjin headed back upstairs and to his bedroom. he sat at his desk again and decided to turn on his computer monitor.

the humming of the computer was like white noise to hyunjin at this point. he stared blankly at his desktop, unsure what to do. he scanned along the right side of his desktop and noticed an old rpg game that he used to play when he was still in middle school. curious to how much the game had changed since then, hyunjin dragged his cursor over the icon and clicked.

the application opened almost immediately, however the lag of the game caught up soon. it was possibly due to the fact that hyunjin had not played it in so long. along the left of the window were hyunjin’s old gaming partners. he recalled meeting them in forums and chat rooms dedicated to the game and instantly becoming friends with them. as hyunjin scrolled farther down the friends section, there was another section at the very bottom that hyunjin nearly forgot about.

**unfriended players**

hyunjin read out loud the only player’s name on the list.

“yjk00, _yang jeonghyuk_...” he muttered under his breath.

the name made him want to cringe. hyunjin had forgotten that he ever unfriended the boy on the application.

hovering over the boy’s name, a small menu popped up that displayed different options that hyunjin could view.

profile,  
activity,  
mutual friends,  
 **chat logs.**

hyunjin wanted to read the chat log, just out of pure curiosity again. dragging his cursor over the chat log option, he clicked.

the chat log was years long. the two boys would play almost everyday when nothing had happened between them. hyunjin continued scrolling down, uninterested in their first few chats. finally, he found it.

their last chat log.

**TUESDAY , 7 : 0 8 P M**

**hjinh__:** u there??  
 **hjinh__:** u didnt talk to me at school today  
 **hjinh__:** did i do something wrong??

**TUESDAY , 7 : 1 7 P M**

**hjinh__:** hello?  
 **yjk00:** i rhink we need to talk tmrr hyunjin  
 **yjk00:** **think  
 **hjinh__:** OK?? was it something i said??  
 **yjk00:** we’ll talk about it

**yjk00** _HAS WENT OFFLINE_

hyunjin gnawed on the inside of his cheek as he reread the conversation over and over again.

finally, he closed out of the application and shut off his computer. the sound of the computer humming began to die down as hyunjin walked over to his bedroom door.

he felt disgusting _all over again._


End file.
